Week in Review, Diabetes Day Camp (365:9)

What a week Dylan had at diabetes day camp at West Van Community Centre. He attended Monday-Thursday and experienced four days loaded with fun activities, great friends, and lots of diabetes education.

Day 1, Dylan arrived, thrilled to discover that he knew a bunch of the kids already from Camp Kakhamela! The group headed to Lighthouse Park for a hike and geocaching lesson, then back to the rec centre for lunch, board games and some diabetes ed.

Lighthouse Park, Day 1

Day 2 they went pitch & putt golfing, where Dylan experienced one of his lowest blood sugars ever. 1.7 mmol/l (30.6 mg/dl)! A full 10-pack of dex later and he was back into normal range, but then a few hours later, at snack, he had dropped to 3.0 mmol/l (54 mg/dl). Honestly, I never would have thought to temp basal for golf, and neither did he. Lesson learned.

Day 3 the group went up Cypress Mountain for an exploratory nature hike and to pick wild blueberries. This time Dylan set a 50% temp basal and ran a little high for the rest of the day, but not too bad. After picking, they returned to the rec centre and made blueberry pancakes with their pickings, practicing carb counting and how to count carbs for an entire recipe, then adjust it to a per serving amount.

Thursday was a food day. They spent the morning at Lonsdale Quay market, exploring the food vendors and talking about healthy food choices. For lunch they selected a food stall for their meal (making sure it was a healthy, balanced lunch) and estimated the carbs in their meal.

Dylan missed today to go camping for the weekend with his dad, but the group ferried to Bowen Island to go kayaking and visit a working bee farm!

Throughout the week, they created a video for newly diagnosed kids, too. Touching on ideas including injection fear, navigating the quarterly clinic and A1c test, and when to start pumping, the video will be shown to newly diagnosed kids to show them they are not alone. Very cool idea.

Memories; The First Low

Diabetes Blog Week Prompt, Day 3: Today we’re going to share our most memorable diabetes day. You can take this anywhere.... your or your loved one's diagnosis, a bad low, a bad high, a big success, any day that you’d like to share. 

I love that these topics are really getting me thinking...there have been so many diabetes memories, both good and bad. I could post about Dylan's diagnosis. Or about Cyclebetes, the cross-Canada cycling event I was lucky enough to participate in not once, but twice. I could write about one of the many amazing JDRF events we have partaken in, or about the day we started pumping. All worthwhile choices.

But no. Today, the memory that keeps flashing to the forefront of my brain, is of Dylan's one, and only, REALLY bad daytime low. Sure, he's had hundreds of lows, in fact, lately he gets them daily. But this low...this bad boy was different. It had attitude. It was the type of low that keep a d-parent living in fear. The type of low that makes you want to hold on to your child and not let him or her out of your sight. EVER. 

One day, within the first year after Dyl was diagnosed (he was 4 years old at diagnosis), he was spending the day with grandma at her house, which is about a 10 minute drive from our house. (For the record, she is and always has been knowledgeable about Dyl's diabetes, and is one of the few people I've always been comfortable leaving Dylan alone with.) After spending the afternoon together, she was driving him home when she decided to make a quick stop at the library to drop off a few books. She pulled up in front of the building and noticed Dylan had fallen asleep in the back seat of the car. Side-note: this was a very common occurrence, and still is now. Dylan frequently falls asleep within the first minute or so of travel time. Knowing this, she left him in the car and ran the 10 or so feet to put the books in the outdoor return slot. She hopped back in the car and drove to my house. When they pulled in our driveway I could see her, from the kitchen window, struggling to get him out of the car. Again, this wasn't uncommon. He would sleep so soundly for short drives, that we would often have difficulty rousing him once we reached our destination. I saw her pulling him out of the booster seat and trying to get him to walk up the flight of stairs to the back door. And that was when I knew something was very wrong.

Normally Dylan would be disoriented after snoozing in the car, but he would still semi-wake up and stumble into the house. This time he wasn't. My mom was literally dragging him; she had both arms hooked around his chest in a sort of sideways embrace, and was attempting to pull him up the stairs, his legs and feet dragging behind. As I opened the door to help her, she apologized, explaining that he had fallen asleep in the backseat and she couldn't rouse him. 

I immediately knew the truth. He wasn't sleepy, he was hypoglycemic. Between the two of us, we brought him inside and sat him on the couch. I tried, unsuccessfully, to give him dex, but he wasn't responsive enough to chew the tablets. I grabbed a juice box, rammed the straw through the metal hole, and squeezed the juice up through the straw so that it dribbled slowly into Dylan's mouth. For the first few seconds, he didn't swallow, the juice running out of his mouth and down his chin, spilling onto his t-shirt. Then suddenly, as I was about to prep the glucagon for my first real use, he swallowed a few sips of juice. Then a few more. And slowly, as if by magic, the life returned; the color slowly returned to his cheeks, the clarity to his eyes, and the control to his limbs. He was back. 

Nothing, I repeat, nothing, can prepare a parent for that experience. I thought I was ready - I had done all the training, been through the procedures, I knew what to do in an emergency. But nothing I had read or studied could have prepared me for the real deal. That afternoon was the first time I TRULY understood just how unpredictable, powerful, and terrifying, diabetes could be. 

We, The Undersigned

It's Day 2 of Diabetes Blog Week, and today's prompt is, "Recently various petitions have been circulating the Diabetes Online Community, so today let’s pretend to write our own. Tell us who you would write the petition to – a person, an organization, even an object (animate or inanimate) - get creative!! What are you trying to change and what have you experienced that makes you want this change?"

I, mother of a child with type 1 diabetes, hereby petition the people of planet Earth to do their absolute best to correct and/or overcome any and all preconceived and unsubstantiated notions about the cause and treatment of type 1 diabetes. This includes any misconceptions, ignorance, simplicity, incapacity, naivete, callowness, and basic lack of understanding about the disease itself, as well as how to "best" manage it, and how to reduce long term risk of type 1 complications. Examples of such ludicrous notions include, but are not limited to:

• questions related to things my type 1 child "can" and "cannot" eat. And I apologize in advance because one of these days when another adult asks me "can he eat this?", I just might go off the deep end and shove aforementioned "this" where the proverbial sun don't shine. YES, he can eat that.
• suggestions that my son "got" type 1 diabetes as a result of too much sugar, lack of exercise, or obesity. Umm, hello? Have we met? I am borderline obsessive about diet and exercise and would never feed my children copious amounts of sugar or saturated fats, and I ensure they get plenty of exercise. Though that's totally irrelevant because there is NO LINK whatsoever between diet and/or activity level and the incidence of type 1 diabetes.
• stories about someone's second cousin's friend's mom who was "cured" of type 1 diabetes after taking some magical herbal/cinnamon/new age discovery. For starters, there is NO CURE for type 1 diabetes. Period. Second, if there were some secret cure out there, don't you think we would have tried it by now? And third, see first bullet for my in-advance apology, as this applies to you too, and where I'd like to put your "cure".

I wish that the lack of knowledge about type 1 diabetes was limited to the above list, but in fact these are only a handful of the masses of incorrect ideas floating around. There are myriads of great resources available to educate about type 1 diabetes. Check out my resources tab for some helpful links.

Comments for You

Day 15 Prompt: Comment! Pick someone else’s blog post and write a comment to them. Write that comment as your post for today and link back to them to let them know you were inspired.

As usual, I am behind on my HAWMC posts, but still trying to catch up :) For today's prompt, I chose to comment on a post written by fellow HAWMC diabetes blogger. Sweetly Voiced, written by type 1 advocate Melissa Lee, is a blog I've been following regularly since joining the diabetes blogging world.

After reading Melissa's post It's Cuplicated this morning, I knew this was the post I wanted to comment on for today's (actually yesterday's) prompt...

My comment:
"I love this post because I can so relate to it. Be it type 2, gestational diabetes, pre-diabetes, whatever, each comes with its own set of challenges, and each person's blood glucose level reacts a little bit differently to food, insulin, and exercise. But we ALL react. Just because someone is not dependent on multiple daily insulin injections, does not mean they are any less susceptible to the blood sugar spike after eating the granola bar or ice cream sundae or whatever other high carb, high glycemic index food they are ingesting.

And while advice or feedback from a non-doctor, or non-type 1 may be well intended, until someone has "walked a mile" in type 1 shoes, so to speak, I don't think they really get it. I don't think they CAN get it, no matter how good their intentions."

1, 3, and 5 Year Goals

Day 5: What’s your one, three, or five year plan for your Health Activism?

Ask me this 5, or even 3, years ago, and I would've spouted on about the big "C" word, and the importance of raising funds for diabetes research. 2 years ago my focus was almost solely on advocacy. Today, to be honest, it's a mixed bag, but overall, I'm focused on the now.

While I understand that a cure is not in the immediate future, I so still believe with all of my heart that there is one out there, and that the number one barrier to discovering it is money. As a parent of a child with type 1, I can't stop believing in a cure because it's the ultimate goal, the holy grail so to speak. But do I actively seek a cure and tirelessly fund-raise for it? No, not anymore.

And I certainly understand the critical importance and role of advocacy. There are simply too many people who do not receive, or cannot afford, even the most basic of diabetes care, such as insulin and test strips. There are too many children who do not receive government funded insulin pumps, and there are far too many people suffering  the side effects of type 1 diabetes, such as blindness, neuropathy, and kidney problems. Type 1 diabetes is a cripplingly expensive disease and we cannot simply sit back while others struggle. We have the opportunity to be not only a voice, but a gateway between those with information, and those without.

Today, I'm focused on the now. On the present and nothing more. I'm purposefully letting go of the past, and not worrying about the future. I have wasted far too much time and energy stressing over yesterday, and obsessing over a tomorrow that is beyond my control. The present is where I live, and I'm taking care of myself and my family as best I possibly can. I am learning and growing constantly, and teaching my children to do the same. In terms of diabetes, we are focused on day to day care: regular testing, carb counting, daily exercise, consistent sleep patterns. Tomorrow'a A1c, or future complication risk, is not dictated by what we do in the future, it is based on what we do today, and everyday, one day at a time. 

My "Care Page"

Day 4 Prompt: Create a “care page” – a list of your best resources that someone who is newly diagnosed could go to when starting to advocate for themselves or a loved one. 

My initial thought when reading this prompt was to create a list of links to organizations that promote diabetes awareness and raise funds for diabetes-related research. Then I thought maybe I should share a few links to previous posts I've written., You know, our diagnosis story; how I dealt with with my son's diagnosis; how and why I started advocating myself, stuff like that.

But then I really thought about it; about what I would want to know if our diagnosis was today...and the answer was obvious. I would want to know that I wasn't alone. And that I would never ever be alone with diabetes. Because a diabetes diagnosis comes with an open-armed and open-ended invitation to one of the coolest, most welcoming, supportive, and totally awesome communities out there. The DOC really does have all the answers. Have a question? Post a status update on Facebook. Feeling overwhelmed? Send out a tweet. Need a virtual hug? Simply ask, and the response will amaze you.

Diabetes sucks no matter how you tilt your head, but being able to share frustrations, concerns, and day to day dilemmas with others who understand what you're going through is invaluable.

Oh, and if you are looking for links to previous posts, check out:

Our Diagnosis Story

Why Do I Write?

Type 1 Diagnosis, Now What?

And visit the websites of your national and regional diabetes organizations. See the "Resources" tab above for a few links to start.

Wordless Wednesday, HAWMC Day 3

Day 3 Prompt: Post a picture that symbolizes your condition and your experiences. 

Seeing as today is a day in which we write hope on our hands to raise awareness for those with type 1 diabetes, here's my hand!

What is Type 1 Diabetes?

Day 2 Prompt: Introduce your condition(s) to other Health Activists. What are 5 things you want them to know about your condition/your activism? 

When people learn that my 12 year old son has type 1 diabetes, the usually make certain assumptions about that the disease is, or where he "got it" from. Sadly, misconceptions are rampant when it comes to type 1 and the volume of incorrect information floating around is abundant. Sometimes it seems easier to tell people what type diabetes IS NOT, rather than what it is. 

It is NOT:

• caused by eating too much sugar, either as a child or adult, or by sugar at all
• caused by any lack of care or neglect on the part of a parent or caregiver 
• a casual disease that comes and goes. It is 24/7/365.
• a result of being obese or overweight, nor does it have anything to do with weight at all
• contagious, meaning you can't "catch" it from someone else
• a disease with diet restrictions. My son can eat chocolate, sweets, starchy foods, and sugar, just like your child (though when eaten in excess it WILL cause cavities, and lead to obesity and other health issues, just like in your child). We just need to balance his carbohydrate intake with insulin.
• curable.

Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are destroyed, causing the body to stop producing insulin, and blood glucose levels to rise. Without insulin, the body cannot survive, so type 1 diabetes IS fatal if untreated. Fortunately, it is treatable with insulin, which can be delivered either via syringes or subcutaneously using an insulin pump. While insulin therapy is far from a cure for type 1 diabetes, it provides patients with a tool with which they can live a long and healthy life.

It is a disease that never sleeps. It IS manageable, but with vigilance and constant care. Blood glucose levels must be checked throughout the day and night, and insulin must be given multiple times per day to keep blood glucose levels within an ideal range. Variations in blood glucose levels throughout the day are to be expected, but readings outside of the target range (highs and lows) should be treated immediately. Food intake must be closely monitored (carbohydrate intake causes a rise in blood glucose), as do activities that burn carbohydrates, such as exercise. Other factors that can, and do, affect blood glucose, include temperature, stress, illness, and hormones.

There is no cure for type 1 diabetes, so utmost attention to diabetes management is critical and lifelong.

Ok, so that's a few more than 5 things. It is what it is.

Why HAWMC?

Today marks the first day of the Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge, otherwise known as HAWMC. Every day for the month of April, I'll be writing from a preset list of topics. Feel free to follow, comment, share, or tweet. And should you wish to write your own posts, you can sign up for HAWMC at http://info.wegohealth.com/hawmc and get all 30 prompts. So without further ado, let's get to it!

Day 1 prompt: Why HAWMC? This is our third year of the Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge – why did you get involved this year? Are you a newbie to #HAWMC or a veteran?

I guess you could say I'm a veteran. This is my second year participating in HAMWC; 2012 was my first year, and I'm pumped to be part of the challenge again. 

Why am I getting involved this year? One word: accountability. If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll have noticed that the entries have been few and far between lately. Not only have I been busy, but diabetes has been on the back burner (knock on wood) in our house lately. It's been one of those rare periods in which things just go as they should, without any unusual incidents, or bumps in the road. And I've realized that when things run smoothly, I don't blog as much. Is it that I only write about the problems diabetes brings to our lives? Jeesh, I certainly hope not, but I think I do. Regardless, I think HAWMC is exactly the kick in the butt I need right now to get me back into a consistent blogging schedule.

Wordless Wednesday: Spare a Rose, Save a Child

A quick reminder: buy one less rose this Valentine's Day, and donate the value of that rose to the Life for a Child program.

Spare a Rose, Save a Child

In case you haven't already heard, there is a pretty amazing initiative spreading through the DOC and around the world this week, called Spare a Rose, Save a Child. Put together by DOC advocates Kerri Sparling, Kelli Close, Manni Hernandez, Jeff Hitchcock, and Bennet Dunlap, with the help of some folks at Johnson & Johnson, the super simple idea is to buy one less rose this Valentine's Day and share the value of that rose with a child with diabetes in the developing world. How do you do that? Easy peezy lemon-squeezy. Simply click here and make a donation to Life for a Child.

So instead of buying that dozen roses for your sweetie this Valentine's Day, buy 11 instead and donate the value of the twelfth to a child in need. It's a simple, caring, but life-changing message.

"I Challenge Diabetes" Review

Yesterday I received an email from one of the nurses at the Diabetes Education Centre we attend, telling me about "I Challenge Diabetes." I clicked on the link to their website, and was instantly ecstatic. How is it that I've never heard of this organization before now? It is sooooo cool. The are a national not-for-profit organization founded in 2007 by Canadian Type 1 Olympic rower Chris Jarvis. Their mission is to support the needs of people living with diabetes, and their families, through online campaigns, experiential /educational programs, and events.

With a vision is to provide support to every Canadian living with type 1 diabetes, the organization and its staff want to show type 1 Canadians that blood glucose management, and living a healthy lifestyle, can be fun. By taking on the "I Challenge Diabetes" pledge, individuals are making a commitment to take on their diabetes management as a personal challenge.

How do they work? "Through events and programs that focus on experiential education and creative problem solving, I Challenge Diabetes provides a supportive community and learning environment that builds confidence and helps people to overcome the fears and frustration that come with managing diabetes. Using modern technology, education, and teamwork, we create programs that target common problems and develop new solutions to stabilizing blood sugars. Our team members, who all have type 1 diabetes, share a deep passion for staying healthy and positive, and deliver these messages through events, workshops, and speaking engagements."

And OMG, they have some totally awesome events all across the country. From snowshoeing and skiing treks, to self-defence and "Amazing Race" style community races, there are events for all ages, and all activity levels.

For info about upcoming events, and a full description of all of the "I Challenge Diabetes" programs, please visit their website at http://ichallengediabetes.org

What Alternatives?

Write about alternative treatments / regimens / medicine. What do you support? What is crazy?

Some days it seems like everyone's great-grandmother, third cousin, and neighbor's friend has a supposed "cure" for type 1 diabetes. Be it massive doses of cinnamon, unique herbs, the bark of a special tree, or a new mysterious diet, the claims of diabetes being curable and/or reversible are abundant. Alas, they are also a load of crap.

Type 1 diabetes is autoimmune disease that is NOT curable, reversible, or preventable. The pancreas of a person with type 1 diabetes no longer produces insulin, so it has to be injected subcutaneously, either via syringe, pen, or pump. The ONLY treatment, regime, or medicine that will keep a type 1 diabetic alive is insulin. Period. There is no way around this. No insulin = death.

Sure, there are lots of things that might help a person with type 1 diabetes to live a long and healthy life. Exercise, a healthy diet, and good blood glucose control are all very important. But they alone, together, or in combination with any above said "cures" will all result in the same disastrous outcome. No insulin = death.

There will always be people spouting false and unfounded ideas about cures for diseases, just as there will always be those of us trying, again and again, to educate them. All we can do is address them one person at a time.

Question for Type 1 Parents

The NHBPM prompt for Day 19 asks us to pose questions to other patients. 

We have been riding a carousel with Dylan's diabetes care for quite a while now and I desperately want to get off the ride. Around and around and around we go, repeating the same problems over and over. Now I am asking for help/advice/tips from the DOC.

For as long as I can remember Dylan has been pushing for independence with his diabetes care. He has always shown a high level of interest in doing his own testing, entering carb counts for meals, and calculating his own correction boluses. I oversee everything, and do all of his site changes and setting adjustments, but for the most part, he handles the day to day stuff on his own. This system has worked for us. Until recently.

Just over a year ago, Dylan started forgetting to test from time to time. He'd come home from school and we'd realize he'd neglected to test for his morning snack, but gone ahead and eaten it anyway, resulting in a slightly elevated bg at lunch. I'd catch the oversights early, and the problem would go away. Then a few weeks later it would happen again, and again, and again. 

Then last November we adjusted the custody agreement between Dylan's dad and I, implementing a week on-week off schedule. Great for the kids, not great for diabetes monitoring. The forgetfulness with testing became more and more frequent, and without me hovering and reminding Dylan constantly to test, missed bg tests at school became the norm rather than the exception. Upon uploading the pump data, I would immediately see the problem, talk to Dylan about it, and it he would be more diligent at school, at least temporarily.

The cycle has continued on and off since and we don't seem to be getting anywhere closer to a permanent solution. His testing habits at home are great, but school is an ongoing problem. He doesn't have any support worker or aide anymore, and I can't be there to remind him. He has always been very good at recognizing highs and lows, too, so when he feels good, he is more likely to forget to test.

So my question is...

How do other parents ensure that their tween/teen tests at school? What system/precautions do you have in place?

Diabetes Playlist

Why do I associate certain songs with diabetes? Each of the songs below has a story; a memory that forever binds it with diabetes. These songs carry weight in my heart and can bring tears to my eyes within seconds.

Without further ado, here are the top 6 songs on my "diabetes playlist":

1) "Fix You" by Coldplay. Aside from the obvious message in the lyrics, this haunting song is my favorite diabetes song for two reasons. First of all, when Cyclebetes (the diabetes cycling team I am part of) was first formed, this was used as an unofficial theme song of sorts. Second, Dylan sang this song earlier this year in front of an audience of about 250 people and it was one of the most emotional experiences of my life.

2) "Breathe Again" by Sara Bareilles. I first heard this song at the 2010 Vancouver JDRF Gala, as the background music to an awareness video created by a mom who had multiple children with type 1 diabetes. The lyrics and melody touched my heart, and the song has been on my playlist ever since.

3) "Invincible" by Hedley. Dylan's theme song. This local band is from Vancouver, where I live, and I've followed their rise to fame for years. While this song is great on its own, the music video enhances its power, as the song speaks to overcoming any and all obstacles.

4) "Have a Little Faith in Me" by Joe Cocker. Just a little reminder to get stop believing in yourself because truly anything is possible if you set your mind to it.

5) "Superwoman" by Alicia Keys. I first heard this song at a benefit concert for TEAM DYLAN in 2010 and it immediately struck a chord with me. To all my d-mommas out there, this one is for you.

6) "I Believe" by Nikki Yanofsky. The official theme song of the 2010 Winter Olympics, this song speaks of the sacrifices we make to achieve our dreams. My theme song :)

Type 1 Diagnosis, Now What?

Day 16's prompt asks bloggers to use a picture or video to inspire a post. I've chosen a picture that contains a quote that I find particularly applicable to living with type 1 diabetes.

A diagnosis of type 1 diabetes can be devastating. Crippling even. And is it not a disease of patience. Diabetes doesn't wait for us to grieve, or be angry. It doesn't even afford us the time to let the enormity of its implications sink in. No, diabetes is a disease of action. It has requirements; things that must be done to enable survival. But how? Amid the shock, confusion, or overwhelming despair, how does a parent move forward and ensure the best care for their child? The only way we can: one step at a time.

2012 Health Activist Awards

Halfway through National Health Blog Post Month already! Today's prompt asks us to nominate a fellow blogger for a 2012 Health Activist Award. 

I've nominated some of my favorites, have you? Nominating your fave blog is super easy. Simply choose the category in which you wish to nominate, from the following options:

Advocating for Another Award – someone who advocates for the health condition of someone they love. 

Best Ensemble Cast – A group who advocates and raises awareness. 

Best in Show: Blog - Someone who exemplifies the use of blogging. 

Best in Show: Community/Forum - Someone who exemplifies the use of a community or forum. 

Best in Show: Facebook - Someone who exemplifies the use of Facebook. 

Best in Show: Twitter - Someone who exemplifies the use of Twitter. 

Best in Show: Video – Someone who exemplifies the use of video. 

Best Kept Secret –Someone in the online health community who hasn't gotten a lot of attention. 

Health Activist Hero – An inspiring, supportive, and knowledgeable Health Activist . 

Hilarious Health Activist Award - The Health Activist who makes you laugh alongside their advocacy.

Ms/Mr. Congeniality – Someone who always has a kind word, a positive note, and a virtual hug. 

Paperboy Award – The Health Activist who always delivers the latest and greatest health news and research.

Rookie of the Year – A Health Activist who came on the scene in 2012 but has inspired the entire community. 

Silver Stethoscope – A healthcare professional who utilizes social media to make the world a better place. 

Trailblazer Award – The Health Activist who is ahead of every curve and excited by new technology. 

Unsung Hero Award – The member of your community who may not know how amazing and valuable they are. 

Then head over to WEGO Health's Health Activist Awards nomination page by clicking here. It only takes a minute and anyone can nominate a blog, or as many blogs as they want!

LOL Post

Day 10's prompt asks bloggers to write something funny or share something they found funny.

First of all, I have to say right up front, that I don't find anything "funny" when it comes to type 1 diabetes. Diabetes is a serious, life threatening medical condition and, in our house, we treat it as such. However, in prepping this post I actually searched for "diabetes jokes" and "diabetes humor." Big mistake. What some people might consider funny, I find offensive and ignorant. Enough said.

That being said, funny things DO happen during the day to day care of child with type 1. Examples? Finding used test strips in all sorts of weird places; being overly tired and trying to poke my daughter's finger by mistake because she just happens to be standing closer to me; or overfilling pump a reservoir and spilling insulin down the front of my shirt.

And yes, I think that having somewhat of a sense of humor when it comes to diabetes, IS necessary. Without it, one would go crazy from the stress, lack of sleep, and inane comments made by those whose knowledge of diabetes is zilch. Don't even get me started on some of the ridiculous things I've heard when people find out my son has type 1 diabetes...

Exercise Induced Lows

Today's NHBPM prompt asks for a descriptive account of a memory. I've deviated a bit from the task, and written more of an evolution of a problem, rather than a specific, one-time memory.

In case you're not familiar with my blog, or my story, let me start off by stating that I do not have diabetes. My 11 year old son, Dylan, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in November of 2005, at the age of 4.

I, however, have struggled with hypoglycemia for as long as I can remember. Throughout my childhood and teenage years, low blood sugar was a regular occurrence for me. If I skipped breakfast, my blood glucose would tank by 10:30 or 10:45 am and I would start shaking uncontrollably until I ingested fast-acting sugar. I slowly learned the importance of breakfast, but then in my twenties, the causes of my hypoglycemic episodes expanded. Suddenly I couldn't handle large amounts of simple carbs anymore. I had to eat protein at every meal and keep simple carbs to a minimum. Over time, it became an easily manageable problem.

In my late twenties I took up running and at first everything seemed ok. But as my endurance increased and my runs consisted of 10-25km each, I was faced with a new cause of hypoglycemia: inefficient carb-loading. For the first few years of my running career, I could get away with a pre-run snack of a banana and a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter. And I would carry a bottle of Gatorade, and a tube of dextrose tabs, with me at all times to cover my regularly occurring mid-run low. That worked for a while.

Then last year the lows became more extreme. Suddenly the recovery got slower and I would feel weak and shaky for half an hour after treating the low, making the rest of my run near-impossible. At this point some people might have considered giving up running, but I love it. And not just for the exercise; running is my stress relief, my time to myself, and my time with nature. So I gave up the nature part and started doing all of my runs on my treadmill. Boring, yes, but still effective.

In May 2012 I got involved with the 90 day challenge and everything changed. The shakes I was drinking daily left my blood sugar stable all day and my lows stopped happening. Suddenly I could run outside again, plus I could run faster and further than ever before. It was amazing! I went 6 months without a hypoglycemic episode...until today.

I upped my exercise regime quite substantially this week, adding some intense strength training, and speed intervals to my running. The increase was clearly too much too fast, and my body responded with a brutal low. It kicked my butt. I had to stop moving, take in 45 grams of fast-acting carbs and wait half an hour before feeling somewhat better. I had almost forgotten how scary it feels during that waiting period. Almost...

Finding Balance

The prompt for day 7 of WEGO Health's National Health Blog Post Month is, “Be mindful. Write about what helps you stay centered in the present…"

Mindfulness has been on my mind a fair bit lately. Between having 3 kids and 3 jobs, my life is hectic, and I find that I have to force myself to stop and be present in my own life.

Those who've been reading my blog for a while, know that I promote the 90 Day Challenge. In fact, I am currently participating in my third 90 day challenge. My first two challenges focused on athletic performance, and I experienced some incredible results. My current challenge, however, is much more holistically based. Entitled, "Finding Balance," I am challenging myself to be mindful in my daily life  every day for 90 days, striving to find a healthy balance between body, mind, and soul. I am taking care of myself physically (via proper nutrition, ample exercise, and adequate rest), mentally (by reading both fiction and personal growth books, and writing daily), and spiritually (by identifying and dealing with stress, spending quality time with my children and husband, building relationships with others, and participating in daily meditation and prayer).

While this may seem redundant to those who already have a solid balance in these three realms, for me it is taking real effort. For years now, I have emphasized the importance of taking care of my physical health, but I have neglected my mental and spiritual health as a result. Finding balance is a real struggle for me, but I am up for the challenge and determined to maintain these healthy changes in my life.